‘We were going down fast’: how Benjamin Franklin saved America
Apple’s new drama series Franklin, starring Michael Douglas as the founding father, recalls a vital time in US history as he travelled abroad for help
“A long life has taught me that diplomacy must never be a siege but a seduction,” says Michael Douglas’s Benjamin Franklin, raising a wine glass in a world of candlelit tables, baroque music and powdered wigs. “Think of America as a courted virgin. One that does not solicit favours but grants them. And nothing speaks to romance quite as loudly as a dowry worth half a hemisphere.”
This is the first episode of Franklin, now streaming on Apple TV+, which tells the story of author, printer, postmaster, scientist, statesman and all-round Renaissance man Benjamin Franklin’s late-life secret mission to France, aimed at persuading the country to help America win the Revolutionary war and gain independence from Britain.
Continue reading...Date: |
Filter
More from The Guardian
-
Israel shuts down local Al Jazeera offices in ‘dark day for the media’
Foreign Press Association decries move under new law based on claim network is a threat to national security . Israeli authorities shut down the local offices of Al Jazeera on Sunday, hours after a government vote to use new laws to close the ...The Guardian - World - Israel -
Xi Jinping arrives in France with Ukraine and an EU trade row at the top of his agenda
On his first visit to Europe since 2019, Xi is set to meet with Emmanuel Macron before heading to Serbia and Hungary. President Xi Jinping has lauded China’s ties with France as a model for the international community, as he arrived in Paris for a ...The Guardian - World - Ukraine -
Missing surfers died from gunshots after attempted robbery, Mexican officials say
Families of two Australians and American who went missing in Baja California have identified the bodies, officials say. Mexican authorities have identified the three dead bodies found in a well in Mexico as Australian brothers Callum and Jake ...The Guardian - World -
Flooding death toll in south Brazil rises to 75 as over 100 people remain missing
Officials in Rio Grande do Sul state say more than 80,000 have been displaced by record water levels. Seventy-five people are now known to have died in the flooding in Brazil’s southern Rio Grande do Sul state, while more than 100 people remain ...The Guardian - World - Brazil -
Eurovision winner Jamala says Ukraine ‘cannot afford’ to boycott contest
Singer says her country needs the opportunity to remind Europe of Russia’s invasion. Ukraine’s former Eurovision winner Jamala has said her country “cannot afford” to boycott the song contest because it needs the opportunity to remind Europe of ...The Guardian - World - Ukraine